Three Wars
by Sir Jid
Summary: A new crime syndicate is threatening Junior's club, the SDC is under attack by the White Fang, and relations between Atlas and Vale are rapidly falling into disrepair. Will a group of hunters, businessmen, and criminals be able to keep the city from falling apart?
1. Unruly Guests

Ruby spun the chamber of the sword, biting her lip nervously. It was working, the logical part of her brain told her. She had checked and rechecked and rechecked again. It all works. It all functioned. It was, by all accounts, the best weapon she had ever made (not counting her own, but that was to be expected with the amount of time she had poured into the scythe). Still, this was the most important client she had ever had. It wasn't her sister, or looking to get a notch above standard issue, or even a championship fighter. This was Weiss Schnee, and any imperfection would be noticed. And scrutinized. And she might get yelled at.

Maybe she should check the chamber again.

The bell above the door jingled, signaling that her time was up. Ruby straightened nervously, smoothing out the wrinkles of her jacket and tried to prepare herself to meet the heiress. She placed the sword gingerly into its case and snapped the lid shut before closing her eyes and steeling herself to walk out and present it.

"Where is she?"

Ruby winced. Apparently she was taking too long. She hurried out just in time to hear a familiar voice answer, "I'm sure she'll be here in a moment, Weiss." Pyrrha Nikos beamed up at Ruby as she finished her sentence. "See? Hello, Ruby."

Weiss folded her arms. "She was still slow."

Ruby swallowed nervously and placed the case on the counter. "Uh, hi, Pyrrha."

"You have my weapon?"

Ruby jumped a little and turned to face Weiss. "Of course, Miss. Ma'am. Uh, Sir?"

Weiss exhaled and closed her eyes. "Just give it to me."

"Right!" Ruby thrust the sword at the woman—hilt first, fortunately. "This is it! His name is Myrtenaster."

Weiss delicately took hold of the rapier and raised it, examining the blade critically before raising an eyebrow at the smith. "'His' name? Why male?"

Ruby blushed and wrung her hands. "Uh, not really any reason, I guess. Just the feeling I got while making it."

"Miló and Akoúo̱ are both male, too," Pyrrha added helpfully, receiving a bemused expression from her employer.

"I see." Weiss stepped into her ready position, Myrtenaster angled slightly forward. She took a couple practice swings with it before returning to her usual stance. "Regardless, it is well-balanced. Now, how does the dust operate?"

"Oh, you just have to rotate the chamber so that the type you want is on top, then press the trigger on the hilt there. It'll come out the top and down the blade, just like you wanted it to. I did have to refine the nozzle from the design I was given, though. That one would have made it spray too much; this one will give it more of a stream."

Weiss narrowed her eyes. "I believe you were given orders to make it exactly as specified."

"Well, I, uh," Ruby stammered looking around desperately as though some saving grace might leap from the shadowy corners of her shop.

"Weiss, trust me. Any alterations she made could only make it better. She's brilliant."

Weiss whirled around on her bodyguard. "I did not pay to have the designs made only for some dolt to decide she could do better!"

"But I did do better…"

The heiress narrowed her eyes at the weaponsmith. "That remains to be seen."

"Well, then how about you try it out, Weiss?" Pyrrha interjected smoothly. "If you don't like it, then Ruby can make you a new one."

Ruby beamed. "Yeah! Just try it out. I promise you'll like it."

Weiss's eyes flickered from Pyrrha to Ruby. "Very well. Pyrrha, come with me."

The heiress turned and marched from the shop. Pyrrha gave Ruby a reassuring smile before following.

Ruby stood anxiously behind the counter until she got too nervous and began pacing, glancing up at the clock every so often. _They've been gone forty minutes now. Is that long enough? Where were they going? Maybe they went all the way back to her house to test it. How far away is her house? Does her house have training facilities? Probably, if she's getting a dust weapon like that. Forty-one minutes. I wonder how good of a fighter she is. She must be pretty good with dust, at least. She'll be able to tell if anything's wrong. What if there is something wrong? Maybe I didn't do it right. Maybe my design was completely horrible. Oh god, what if it explodes when she tries to use it? What if it kills her? What if-_

Her rambling thoughts were cut off as the bell jingled again and Weiss stepped in and walked purposefully to the counter. Ruby couldn't seem to find her voice as the heiress's gaze bore down into her. Just as Ruby had almost found the words to apologize, Weiss drew a slip of paper from her purse and placed it on the counter. Ruby looked down at the check. The check with a very big number. Weiss started to turn to leave, but before she did, she turned back and, after drawing out a pen, reached down and added another zero to the figure. Ruby sat down heavily as soon as the heiress left her store, clutching the check tightly.

0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(0)0

"Alright, you three," Junior paced back in forth at the top of the stairs, addressing his employees. "This meeting I've got tonight is important. Worth more than your life important."

Yang snickered and he sent her a glare.

"So you're not going to do anything to mess it up, clear?" He stopped in front of Yang and stared at her.

"You know me, Junior. I never mess anything up."

"That's all you do."

"Well," Yang winked at him, "That is what you hired me for."

Miltia snorted derisively and Yang grinned, leaning back over the railing and looking upside-down at the twins. "Aww, come on, Millie! Don't be like that. Come on, let's dance!"

Miltia huffed and stalked off to the bar.

"No? How 'bout you, Mel?"

Melanie shot Yang a look of contempt before joining her sister. Junior groaned as he turned to face her.

"Could you, for just one day, not be a complete pain in the ass?"

Yang laughed. "Doubt it."

The door opened, and one of Junior's goons ran into the room. "He's here."

"Right," Junior said, straightening up. "Melanie, Miltia, places. Yang, just… look threatening."

The twins took up their place at the far side of the bar. Yang grinned and leaned against the wall next to the door. It son opened again, admitting an orange-haired man wearing a bowler hat and a far-too-white suit. He also carried a cane, though he wasn't supporting himself on it. _Weapon_ , Yang's mind immediately said.

"Hi!" Yang greeted, jumping up and extending a hand. "I'm threatening."

"Yang?" Junior addressed her, walking up the man.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up," he said, brushing past her. "Come with me, Mr. Torchwick. I hope my unsavory employee hasn't put you off any deals."

Torchwick laughed as he shook Junior's hand. "Not at all. I've had to work with people like her before," he replied, smirking at Yang, "and please, call me Roman. We're all friends here."

"Great, Roman," Junior said. "Come on, have a drink and we can talk."

"That sounds wonderful," Roman mused, following Junior to the bar. "It's so nice to meet someone civilized in this town."

The manager laughed. "I know what you mean. So many people think that the answer is always punching something." His eyes flitted to Yang, carrying a silent threat. She gave him her best innocent smile, which seemed to be more of a mischievous smirk judging by his grimace. He nonetheless managed to hide it from Roman as the pair sat at the bar.

"Tommy! My usual. What'll you have?"

"Nothing too strong," Roman replied nonchalantly. "I've got a long night ahead of me."

Junior chuckled. "Never a dull moment, is there?"

"Indeed not. Thank you," Roman replied, raising his glass to Junior as soon as it arrived. He didn't drink, though, merely placing it on the counter as Junior took a swig of his own. Yang tensed.

"Now, Roman. Since you've got a long night, let's keep this short, shall we?"

Roman smiled. "Of course."

"So, your boss is planning to do some work down by the docks, right?"

"Yes, precisely. And we were concerned about stepping on your toes, as it were."

Junior waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you came to talk to me about it first. I'm sure we can work out an arrangement."

"Ah," Roman said, leaning back slightly. "Thing with that is, my employer doesn't particularly like contracts. She wants to have as much freedom as possible."

"I assure you, I can be reasonable."

"You two may have different definitions of reasonable."

Junior's face became dangerously neutral as he straightened up and leaned slightly forward. "We're not going to have a problem, are we, Mr. Torchwick?"

Roman laughed. "No, of course not."

Junior relaxed slightly, but his eyes remained firmly fixed on Roman, who leaned forward.

"I never let things alone long enough to become a problem." Roman brought his cane up, a small pop sounding as the end flipped up into a crosshair. Before junior could react, a blast erupted from the end of the cane, catching him in the chest and sending him flying across the bar.

"Junior!" The twin's voices sounded off in unison as they rushed to their fallen boss. Yang, meanwhile, had already locked Ember Celica into place and leapt forward, driving a punch at the back of Roman's head.

He seemed to be expecting her, though, as he ducked to the side and brought his cane up painfully into her stomach. She stumbled momentarily before turning back to find him still smiling.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, Blondie, but I've got a very busy schedule," he said, raising his cane again. Yang lunged at him knocking his cane aside and driving her fist into his stomach and sending him flying across the room, where he shakily got to his feet and chuckled. "Not bad, Blondie."

She charged at him again, but this time he had enough distance to get off a couple shots, forcing her to dodge instead of chase. When she came back up, he was already making a hasty exit through the front door. She ran out after him in time to see him enter a car and drive off. Not breaking her stride, she leapt up and landed on Bumblebee, kicking up the kickstand and roaring the engine to life. A moment later, she was off after him.

Roman's car was fast, but unwieldy. He couldn't take the turns Yang could, and she could easily catch up to him on the busy main street in front of Junior's club by weaving in and out through the traffic. He seemed to realize this, too, as he soon swerved off onto a less-traveled side street and accelerated. Yang followed, already falling behind as the car rocketed down the narrow road. But Yang still had one advantage: she knew the area. She had grown up here, and she and Bumblebee spent much of their free time exploring the alleys and learning every shortcut. The street they were on now curved gradually to the right, and there weren't many streets leading off of it that Roman's big car would fit through.

Yang pulled off into a narrow alleyway, and started dodging in and out through the back alleys behind the closely-crowded buildings with a confidence that came only from experience. And a bit of insanity. She came bursting out of the alleyways back on the main street, with the increasingly loud rumble of Roman's car told her that she was ahead of him. Good. Yang smirked and pulled Bumblebee around to charge at the oncoming car. Roman immediately tried to swerve away as Yang came barreling down on him.

As he approached, Yang took her chance. She leapt off of Bumblebee and dropped down, fist extended, onto the hood of Roman's car, savoring the look of shock on his face as the engine crumpled and the back of the vehicle flipped over her, sailing through the air before slamming into the ground and tumbling along, shredding into tiny pieces as it went. It was Yang's turn to be surprised when she looked around to see Roman, still immaculately dressed, straightening up amidst the wreckage.

She growled and prepared to charge when a small girl leapt down from one of the surrounding buildings to land directly in front of Roman, facing Yang. She had pink and brown hair, an entirely impractical parasol, and a grin that Yang wanted to punch almost as much as she wanted to punch Roman.

"Ah, Neo. What impeccable timing. If you would."

Not seeming to acknowledge Roman, Neo instead fixed her gaze on Yang and bowed, flourishing her parasol in an entirely unnecessary fashion.

Yang roared and charged at the girl, who still hadn't raised back into a standing position when Yang delivered a blow that could crumble walls to the girl's smug face. As her fist connected, both Roman and the girl shattered into tiny fragments like glass, the real pair nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it damn it damn it!" Yang yelled in frustration.

"Well, then. Looks like we finally managed to catch you in the act."

Yang whirled around just in time to catch an oversized mace with her forehead.

"Alright," Cardin said, turning to the four officers behind him. "One of you grab her and throw her in the car." He looked back at the unconscious girl. "Hopefully we'll be able to make this one stick."


	2. Reunions

As far as interrogation rooms went, Yang had been in worse. There was a provided mug of coffee (which was untouched, though she appreciated the sentiment), Her wrists were not bound to the table, and she was provided with a chair.

"Miss Xiao Long."

Yang looked up to see a grey-haired man enter the room. Ozpin.

"Professor," she replied funneling every iota of sarcasm she could into the word. He simply smiled.

"Good to see that you were not badly hurt."

"Yeah, I'm sure you care a lot about my well-being."

Ozpin slid into the chair opposite her, leaning his cane against the table. "Captain Winchester tells me that you were involved in a brawl in the streets. He claimed that he was required to use force against you."

Yang snorted. "I was chasing a guy who attacked Junior. I was doing my job."

"I know." Ozpin gave her a thin smile. "You will be pleased to hear that Hei Xiong is alive. He is currently being treated at the medical facilities here at Beacon."

Yang laughed. "I knew the old bastard was too tough to die like that." Yang looked down. "I guess that explains why you haven't taken my stuff."

"We are not enemies, Yang. We are allies."

"I don't think Cardin agrees with you there."

"Cardin sometimes has difficulty seeing a larger picture. I assure you that, like myself, he is dedicated to keeping the citizens of this city safe."

"As dedicated as you? That's real reassuring."

Ozpin ignored the sarcasm. "I'm glad. Now What can you tell me about last night?"

Yang sighed. "Junior met with a guy called Torchwick. Torchwick blind-sighted him and ran. I ran after him. Might have got him, too, if 'Captain Winchester' hadn't decided for help. No, scratch that. Maybe if your hunters were doing what you say they do, I wouldn't have needed to catch him, because they would've already."

Ozpin sighed. "I do understand your frustration. Honestly, I do. However, I must remind you of the state this city was in before the hunters intervened. I regret that there are too few to properly protect the city-"

"By bashing in their heads."

"-but we are making a difference."

"That's the part that worries me."

"I suppose this means that you're still rejecting my offer."

"Yeah, I'd probably do more good fighting your hunters than joining them."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. Your talents could be of excellent use to this city." Ozpin stood. "Good day, Miss Xiao Long." He turned and pushed through the door and out of sight. A moment later, a nervous-looking young blonde man entered the room.

"Ahem. Uh. Miss Yang Xiao Long?"

Yang cocked her head. "No, the Queen of Vacuo."

"Well, then, your majesty. If you could come with me, I can take you to Mr. Xiong."

Yang stood. "Well, lead the way, Blondie."

As soon as Yang left the room behind the blonde man, a red blur rushed up and wrapped its arms around her waist. "Yang! You're alive!"

"Oof. Rubes. Rubes! I'll be fine if you stop trying to suffocate me."

Ruby stepped back, rubbing the back of her neck abashedly. "Sorry… but I just heard that there was a fight, and then you were arrested, and then…" she turned to look at the mildly stunned blonde man. "Who are you?"

"Me? I'm, uh, Officer Arc."

"You don't sound too sure of that," Yang teased, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

"Yeah, well, I just started a week ago. I'm still getting used to the whole 'officer' bit. I prefer Jaune. Wait, are you supposed to be here?"

Ruby beamed. "Yup! Professor Ozpin commissioned me to do some new weapons for the hunters. I'm just dropping them off."

"Then shouldn't you be over by the barracks? Or the armory?"

"Well, it is just around the corner… and across the courtyard…and on the other side of the building… but I'm really fast, so it took, like, no time at all!"

Yang pulled Ruby into a loose one-armed hug. "My little sis can go wherever she wants."

"I don't that applies to a military… wait, sis? You don't really look like… sisters."

"Long story."

"Different moms," Ruby supplied. "Same dad."

"We don't have a dad…" Yang muttered.

"It wasn't his fault, Yang."

"Like hell it wasn't."

Jaune coughed, drawing the attention of the two women. "So, uh, I'm supposed to be taking you," he nodded at Yang, "somewhere. And you," he gestured at Ruby, " should probably leave before someone notices that you're not where you're supposed to be."

"Who's not where they're supposed to be?"

Jaune whirled around to find himself face-to-face with Cardin Winchester. "Oh, uh, Captain, I uh-"

Cardin laughed and clasped a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Don't worry, Jauney-Boy. Miss Rose is here by Professor Ozpin's personal invitation. She can visit her… sadly unimprisoned sister if she needs to."

"Sadly unimprisoned, huh?" Yang asked leaning forward. "Well, I'd say your sadly un-beaten up."

"Go on, Xiao Long," Cardin countered, leaning toward her as well. "I'd love for you to throw the first punch."

"Guys, please," Ruby interjected, pushing Yang and Cardin apart. "My weapons don't like to fight each other."

Cardin glanced at Ruby before straightening up. "Works for me. I'll just wait until she's unarmed."

"So honorable," Yang replied, rolling her eyes.

"Said the criminal."

"Guys…"

"Alright. Jaune, take the criminal off to see her boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Miss Rose, I'll escort you back to the courtyard."

Jaune pulled lightly on Yang's sleeve and gestured down the hallway. With a sigh and a last glance back at Ruby, Yang turned to follow him as her sister's voice carried after her; "Cardin, I've been here before. I know how to get around without a guide."

Jaune led Yang down the hallway, out into and across a courtyard, and into another building. After a quick word with a receptionist, he led Yang down a final hallway and stopped outside a door. "He's in here. I can wait outside, or…"

Yang waved him off. "I'll find my own way out. Nice meeting you, Jaune."

"You too, Yang," Jaune smiled and left her to open the door and enter.

"I'm fine! Honestly, do I look fragile to you? Take one lousy hit and-" Junior looked past the nurse he was berating to spy Yang in the doorway. "Yang!"

The nurse looked around and sighed exhasperatedly. "I'll leave him with you. Maybe you can convince him to stay in bed until he's healed."

"Oh, he always listens to me," Yang replied, winking, before crossing over to Junior's other side. "Don't you?"

"Sure. I don't have much choice. You're damn loud, you know that?"

The nurse rolled her eyes and started toward the exit, muttering under her breath. Yang waited for the nurse to leave before sitting down on the chair next to Junior's bed. Still watching the door, she slowly drew a flask from inside her jacket.

"Yang, what is that?"

Sending her boss a wink, Yang slipped the flask under the sheet and against his side.

"I know how much it sucks to be in here. They don't let you drink anything."

Junior chuckled as he pulled the flask up to examine it. "You know they won't let me keep this, right?"

"Yeah, but you'll have at least some before they take it away. Or you can have it all now and I can remove the evidence."

Junior shook his head, smiling and took a swig from the flask. "Alright," he said. "You're not fired."

Yang laughed. "Was I going to be?"

"Well, you kind of failed to do your job. At all." Junior took another swig.

"At least I did better than the twins. They just rushed over to you and started wailing."

"You didn't do that, I heard. Just immediately jumped after Torchwick."

"I know the things I'm good at," Yang mumbled, looking away. "Mourning isn't one of them."

"Mourning?"

Yang looked away and an uneasy silence fell upon the pair of them. After a minute, Yang spoke again. "So… I ran into Ruby outside. She says hi."

"Ruby? What was she doing here?"

"She's supplying the hunters," Yang said carefully, eying Junior for a reaction. He simply shrugged and took a drink.

"As long as she keeps doing independent contracts, good for her."

"You're not bothered that she's working for Ozpin? We could be fighting people armed with her weapons!"

"Look, Yang, we've been over this. As long as we stick to where we've been, Ozpin has no reason to attack us. We're worth more to him if we keep order; he sure as hell can't keep order in our section of the city."

"But he's a militant ass."

Junior laughed. "Maybe. He's not as bad as everyone says, I think. I've gotten a pretty good picture of him during our talks the last few years."

"Like you got a good picture of Torchwick?"

Junior winced. "Hey, that was the first time I met the guy. I know Ozpin a lot better."

"No one knows Ozpin, Hei."

He sighed and looked away. "Look, at least it's better him than no one, right?"

"I suppose." Yang's hand rested on top of Junior's. "But I think it would be better you than him."

Junior smiled and raised the flask. "Well, I'm glad you approve of me, Yang." He took a drink. "Drunkenness and all." Yang chuckled and the pair sat together in comfortable silence.

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Pyrrha led the way from the airship onto the landing pad on the roof of the building, reflexively looking around before signaling that it was safe for Weiss to descend. The heiress stepped carefully after her bodyguard, Myrtenaster strapped to her hip, as a suited man stepped up to the pair.

"Ms. Schnee. Welcome to Tenzin. The specialists you asked for are waiting for you in the second floor conference room."

"Excellent. Moor the airship; I may have to stay here overnight."

"Of course, Ms Schnee." The man walked past them to speak with the dock attendant. Pyrrha turned to Weiss with a smile.

"Well? Are we going to see them now?"

"Yes," Weiss replied. "No point delaying it any longer."

"You could be a little happier about it," Pyrrha noted as she led Weiss to the elevator. "We haven't seen them in two years."

"And that was their choice." Weiss surveyed the vast dust mine sprawling in front of the SDC building. "I did offer them a position."

"One you knew they wouldn't take." Pyrrha gently placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder and guided her into the elevator and pressed the number two button.

"What do you want me to say, Pyrrha?" Weiss shot a glare over her shoulder at her bodyguard. Pyrrha slumped slightly.

"I don't know. Just acknowledge that they're your friends?"

Weiss looked away. "I never said that they weren't."

The elevator dinged as the doors opened. Weiss immediately started down the hallway, Pyrrha sighing and following after her. At the end of the hallway, Weiss hesitated a moment before pushing the double doors open.

"Weiss!" An energetic red-head leapt up from her chair and charged at the heiress, stopping just short of running into her, arms extended. When Weiss crossed her arms, she changed course and hugged Pyrrha instead. "Pyrrha! You're here, too! It's been years!" Behind her, a green-clad man stood as well and walked over and nodded, smiling slightly.

"Hello, Nora. Hello, Ren," Pyrrha greeted, accepting Nora's redirected hug.

"I'm glad you could come," Weiss offered neutrally.

"Of course. After hearing about the attacks, we came as soon as we could."

"Plus, we haven't seen you guys in forever! Like, not since we graduated."

"Shall we sit down?" Weiss indicated the seats Ren and Nora had just vacated.

The four of them sat around a low table, Nora bouncing excitedly until Ren placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Now, how much have you heard about the attacks?"

Ren began to answer, but Pyrrha cut him off. "Weiss, we've only just gotten here. Can't we catch up a bit first?"

"That was not…" Weiss sighed. "I want to get this business taken care of first. Then, perhaps, we can talk further."

Ren nodded. "I agree. This matter is urgent."

Pyrhha and Nora sighed. "Awww, Renny, I thought you'd be on my side."

Weiss straightened up. "Now, Ren, I believe you were going to say something?"

"Yes. The Grimm attacks are not random. I can say almost for certain that they are organized."

"Organized?"

"Controlled, at least. Large packs of varied Grimm are attacking at specific points. Not even Goliaths have been known to employ such tactics."

"Also, the workers are escaping during the attacks."

Weiss narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth, but Nora quickly cut her off.

"Not escaping! Leaving. Being kidnapped. Whatever. I'm just saying it's weird that they're disappearing instead of hiding. According to your security team, they're not being killed, either. They're just gone."

"And, as the missing workers are all Faunus, I think there is little doubt as to the culprit."

Weiss gazed out the window. "You think that the White Fang are using the Grimm."

"I don't see any other logical conclusion," Ren replied.

Weiss sighed and turned to the hunters, crossing her arms. "Very well then. If the White Fang is behind this, then I can't ask you to stay."

The pair exchanged glances. "Well… there are still Grimm involved, right?" Nora said, looking up at Ren.

"That is true," he nodded down to her. "We would be remiss in our duties if we did not assist."

Weiss smiled. "Thank you both. This means a great deal to me."

"Me, too," Pyrrha added.

"All right, then!" Nora shouted, pouncing on Weiss and Pyrrha and pulling them into a tight hug. "Team WPNR is back together!"

Weiss lightly pushed Nora off of her and smoothed out her dress. "So, how do you think the white fang could be using the Grimm?"

"I don't know, but it is worrying. Nora and I will search the surrounding area for any clues and report back."

"Before you go, have a word with the on-site security manager. See if you can fix some of the vulnerabilities in our defenses."

Ren nodded. "Shall we begin then?" Weiss nodded. "Very well," he said, standing. "Nora?" The pair started walking toward the door.

"Wait." Ren paused with his hand on the doorknob, looking back.

"It's great to see you both again."

Ren smiled. "You, too, Weiss." Ren and Nora exited, leaving Weiss and Pyrrha alone.

"So… shall we go get set up in our room?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes, I think I could use the rest."

Pyrrha stood and stepped up to Weiss, offering a hand. Weiss rolled her eyes, but accepted the hand and allowed Pyrrha to pull her up. Together, they walked out of the room toward the elevator. Before they had gotten halfway, alarm sirens suddenly began blaring outside. Pyrrha grabbed Weiss's arm.

"Come on! We need to get you to safety."

"Pyrrha, I don't think-"

Weiss was cut off as an explosion rocked the outer window, sending them stumbling into the wall opposite.

"Weiss!"

Weiss felt herself being thrown to the floor as Pyrrha tackled her.

"Pyrrha?" Weiss scrambled to her feet, looking back at her bodyguard's limp form resting against the wall. From the settling dust of the explosion, three figures emerged, one of them yanking back a ribbon attached to the sword in Pyrrha's back.

 **A/N:** WPNR is pronounced 'Weaponry'.


	3. Unfortunate Circumstances

"I don't like it."

"It's necessary."

"It's really not. We've been doing just fine ourselves. We don't need help. Especially not from people like him."

"We can at least hear him out."

"And if we don't like what he says, we kill him," Hashimoto suggested, breaking his silence.

Blake looked between him and Adam. "Fine. But I still don't like it."

"Neither do I," Adam replied, donning his mask. Hashimoto and Blake followed suit. "Shall we?" Without waiting for an answer, he pushed open the doors and entered the room, flanked on either side by Blake and Hashimoto.

A man in a strikingly white suit and ridiculous hat was lounging in one of the chairs, his feet up on the table while a pink-and-brown-haired girl sat on a desk behind him. As soon as they entered, the man leapt to his feet and crossed the room.

"You must be Adam," the man said, extending a hand. Adam crossed his arms.

"No?" The human shrugged, withdrawing his hand and resting it on his cane. "I was hoping to be civil."

"I've not known a human to be truly civil."

"Neither have I," he chuckled, "But we can do quite the job of pretending, at least."

"What do you want?"

"Ah! My manners, of course. I am Roman Torchwick." He gave a theatrical bow. "This is my assistant Neo," the girl gave an even more grandiose bow, complete with a twirling parasol before returning to her seat. "And I have a proposition for you. Now, I admit that humans can be rather terrible and you have no reason whatsoever to trust me. But, I come bearing gifts."

"What gifts?" Hashimoto spoke up.

Roman smiled, "Why, I just so happen to have certain contacts within the SDC and the Atlas military. With their assistance, I have secured some new toys for you to play with. Neo?"

The girl leapt lightly off of her seat and crossed the room, handing Blake a scroll with a disarming and slightly unsettling smile. Blake took the offered device and looked down at it. Her eyes widened and she passed it to Adam, who looked up at Roman. "You can make these?"

"Sadly, no. But, I can give you some. I can also inform you where the Schnee heiress will be vulnerable in, oh, a week's time, and give you some… interesting extra information. All for a very reasonable price."

"What price?"

Roman smirked. "Absolutely nothing. My employer heartily agrees with what you're doing, and wishes to make all this a donation." He stepped forward and offered his hand. "Do we have a deal?"

This time, Adam shook it.

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Pyrrha could hardly think. Everything was blurry, even inside her head. She needed to focus; what had happened?

An explosion. Then shapes, and something flying out. It had hit the edge of the shield on her back, reflecting off to leave a nasty gash in her lower back and side. She had hit her head on the wall and blacked out. She was losing blood.

All bad things. But before she got hit, there was something important…

Weiss. She needed to help Weiss.

With an effort, she managed to open her eyes. In front of her, she could make out three people facing off against someone in blue. Giant snowflakes hovered in the air, preventing them from getting to her, but it was only a matter of time. Pyrrha staggered to her feet, her pained grunt bringing the attention of the attacker on the right. As quickly as she could, she drew Miló and transformed him into javelin form before hurling him at the man, who turned in time to catch the javelin in his chest. He dropped easily, even as Pyrrha's back screamed at her and she dropped to a knee.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Weiss propelled herself at the second man, her sword piercing through him as she flipped herself back into a ready position facing her final opponent.

Pyrrha again struggled to her feet, reaching out to draw Miló back to her hand. The last attacker, a woman, had begun a furious assault that Weiss was only barely managing to fend off. Pyrrha lunged at the woman's back, causing her to flip back and away from them. Overriding her back's protests, Pyrrha spun to face her, thrusting Miló in front of her and, with a cry of triumph, managing to impale the woman's chest.

Her cry quickly turned to confusion as the woman disappeared from in front of her and reappeared next to her, bringing her twin blades down on Pyrrha's arm and side. Pyrrha screamed as she was thrown sideways from the source of the blow directly through the hole in the wall. As her vision darkened, she felt a strange sensation of cold, and then nothing.

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"It is so great to see Pyrrha again!" gushed Nora as the elevator took her and Ren down to the ground floor. "I mean, not that I don't want to see Weiss. It's great to see her, too! It's just that she's, you know, not as good for conversation. Not that you have to be good at conversation to be a good person. I mean, you're, like, the greatest person ever and you hardly talk at all. It's just that she's a little, you know, right?"

"Cold?" Ren offered. Nora beamed.

"Exactly! I mean, I know that she's a cool person—ha! Cool.—and she's doing all this stuff to help people, so I'm sure she's got a lot on her mind, so I guess that's probably why she hasn't talked to us in so long, and it's kind of sad that the first time she does is because she wants us to fight for her. I don't mind, but it would've been nice to just talk for a bit. Oh! Maybe we can trap her when we're done! Force her to talk to us. We need to make a strategy. Ren, you're smart! How can we trap her?"

"Nora, I don't think we'll need to trap her. I'm sure she'd be willing to talk."

"Aww, but that's boring."

Ren sighed. "We'll have to get Pyrrha's help. She can take her out somewhere to eat, and we'll be waiting when she gets there."

"Perfect!" The elevator door opened and the pair started across the lobby. "But we'll need some sort of signal so we'll know when she's coming. Do you think Pyrrha can imitate a sloth?"

The building suddenly shook as an explosion sounded above them. Ren and Nora glanced at each other before sprinting out the front door. In front of them, SDC security was dashing around and shouting as another explosion ripped up the ground of the courtyard.

"Ren, look! There's a giant robot!"

"I think it's a mech, actually," he replied coolly, drawing Stormflower. "I also think it's attacking us."

Nora's eyes were wide with delight. "We get to fight a giant robot!"

"Yes, Nora." She was already gone, launching herself forward on Magnhild with an excited shout. She smashed into the mech's side and blasted herself skyward with a blast from her hammer, laughing excitedly as she arced up and brought it back down on the mech's head.

Below her, Ren was darting around the thing's legs, severing the hydraulic lines. One of the knees exploded outward, buckling under the mech's weight.

Nora flipped backwards, dodging one of the mech's flailing arms as it fell, and transformed Magnhild into its grenade launcher form before firing a pair of grenades at the mech. They latched into the cockpit and exploded, splitting the mech wide open.

She giggled as she landed. "That was so much fun!"

Ren was less than enthusiastic, his eyes fixed on some spot behind her. "Nora! Weiss!"

She whirled around and saw the hole blown open in the wall of the building—right where they had met with Weiss. As she started forward, someone was thrown out of the hole in the wall. Someone with red hair. "Pyrrha!" The bodyguard landed hard on one of Weiss' glyphs, but the glyph quickly faltered and vanished.

Ren had already darted past Nora. "I'll get her. You help Weiss!"

Nora raced to the wall and leapt, switching Magnhild back to a hammer and propelling herself upward as she did so, scaling nearly two stories. As she drew level with the second floor, she brought Magnhild down through the window to impact the floor, blasting her up another two stories. As she reached the hole in the wall, she grabbed onto the edge of the floor and heaved herself up and into the hallway.

Weiss was backed against the wall, blood flowing from a nasty gash in her left arm, her right one shaking as it held up her sword. Before her was a black-and-white clad woman wearing a White Fang grimm mask wielding some weird two swords thing.

Nora leapt forward with a shout. As the assassin turned, Nora struck her chest with a satisfying crunch, sending her flying down the hall and tumbling into a heap by the elevator doors.

Weiss gasped up at her for a moment before pushing past and staggering to the hole in the wall and sinking to her knees next to it.

"Whoa! Weiss!" Nora cried, pulling her away from the edge.

"Pyrrha…" Weiss gasped.

"It's alright. Ren went to catch her." Nora peered over the edge of the floor. Below her on the ground, she could make out Ren leaning over Pyrrha's… not body. Just Pyrrha. "He's got her. He's taking care of her."

Weiss nodded, closed her eyes and sagged back against the wall.

The door at the end of the corridor burst open, causing Nora to ready Magnhild, but it was only three SDC security officers.

"Miss Schnee!" They ran up to her, the one in front crouching down and reaching to check her arm. "You're injured!"

Weiss stood, wobbling slightly, and waved them off. "It's nothing. We need to return Pyrrha to the city for medical attention." She turned to Nora. "Are you or Ren hurt?"

"No, we're good."

"Alright. Then you two proceed as planned. We may have less time than we thought."


	4. Meaningful Conversation

The woman had cat ears, not a bow as Weiss had originally thought made her feel marginally better; at least she hadn't been almost beaten by someone wearing a bow. That might have been more than her pride would allow. She didn't look dangerous sitting there on the other side of the one-way glass. She seemed peaceful. Docile even. And completely emotionless. Well, two could play at that game.

Weiss strode past the guard, turned and entered the interrogation room. The woman blinked up at her disinterestedly.

"My name is Weiss Schnee."

"I know."

"Then you have me at a disadvantage."

"I'm okay with that."

"You were sent to kill me."

"Only a fool would say so."

"You're part of a terrorist organization. How smart can you be?"

"We're not a terrorist organization."

"No? You're right, you just have picnics. With tea and cookies."

"We're just defending ourselves."

"With guns. With explosives. With murder."

"We tried to be peaceful, but it seems that violence is the only language humans know."

"Your 'peaceful organization' has killed hundreds of people."

"Yours has killed hundreds and doomed thousands more."

"Well you're certainly not helping your case any."

"We shouldn't have to!"

Weiss crossed her arms and leaned back.

"No. You're right. You shouldn't have to resort to terrorism. Which is why I've been pushing for Faunus rights, as you'd be well aware if you existed in the real world instead of with a secluded group of radicals."

The woman finally broke eye contact. "The Schnee Dust Company is part of the problem. A big part of the problem."

"I'm not going to pretend my family has a stellar record. But really, that's all the more reason to see me as an ally. Not try to blow up my property and kill my employees."

"Adam said we needed a clean slate."

Adam. Weiss filed the name away for later. "And does Adam know that some of the members of SDC security are, in fact, Faunus? Or does he just ignore that?"

"They're misguided. We try to help them, but sometimes it's not possible. Sometimes they have to die, too. For the greater good."

"Something else Adam said?"

The woman looked away again.

"I thought so. And what do you think?"

"I think sometimes people have to die. I thought you had to die."

"And what do you think now?"

"I think you're trying to trick me."

"Maybe. But I'm also trying to help the Faunus. The ones who don't try to kill me, anyway."

"I don't know that. You could be lying."

"Yes, I could. But really, if you don't know if that's a lie, maybe you should reevaluate how you get your information on who to hate."

The woman grimaced. "Can we just get to the interrogation part?"

Weiss pursed her lips. "Alright then. How did you know where exactly I was going to be when you attacked?"

Silence.

"Alright, then, how are you controlling Grimm?"

Silence.

"Can you tell me where the White Fang are located?"

Silence.

"Can you tell me how you acquired that mech?"

More silence.

"Very well. I will talk to you later, I'm sure."

Weiss started for the door.

"A human."

Weiss stopped, her hand on the door knob. "A human?"

"He made an offer. He's the one who brought us the mechs. He's the one who told us where you were. He offered other things, but I don't know what they were. Maybe something to do with the Grimm."

Weiss turned. "What did he get in return?"

"Nothing. He didn't want anything. He said he just wanted chaos."

"And what is his name?"

"Roman Torchwick."

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For the fourth time today, Jaune was thrown backwards by the force of Cardin's mace, sending him sliding backwards along the training room floor and into the wall. Dove joined Jaune in a heap a second later. Lark and Gray didn't even bother looking over anymore, instead continuing their own sparring match.

"Come on, get up, you two. Jaune, you're supposed to block with your shield, not your face. Know when to attack and when to defend. I'll give you a hint: always defend. That's your fucking job."

Dove was already back on his feet, his sword held ready, while Jaune struggled to remember which way was up.

"Come on, Cardin. Can't we take a break? We've been at this for hours, and I really don't see any improvement."

"That's because you're not trying, Jauney-Boy. We're going to keep at this until you two can take me down."

Finally on his feet, Jaune raised his shield and nodded at Dove. Dove darted around Cardin's side, firing off several shots as he did so. Cardin turned to face him, rolling forward under the gunfire and swinging his mace upward. Dove leapt backwards and Jaune rushed forwards at Cardin's exposed back, slicing downward with his own sword. Expecting him, Cardin twisted out of the path of his blade and redirected his mace to strike Jaune in the side. Jaune flew over Gray and Lark, who simply ducked and continued their match, before slamming into the wall. A few moments later, Dove was next to him again.

Cardin sighed and shouldered his mace. "Nothing gets through your thick skull, does it, Jauney-Boy?" Cardin walked up to the pair on the floor, causing Lark and Gray to pause as he stepped between them.

"You've got a shield for a reason. You're just not going to do any damage on your own, Jauney-Boy. Leave that to your team and keep their asses alive. Think you can do that?"

"Cardin, this isn't working! We never even fight anyone. Why do we need to know advanced tactics to fight drunks and thugs?"

Cardin grabbed Jaune's collar and lifted him so that the two men were eye level.

"Why? Why? Because if you don't you end up like Russel. This isn't some game, Princess. This isn't something you do just to run home and tell Mommy so she can be proud of you. This is war, Jauney-Boy. And sometimes in war people die. But I'll be damned if someone dies when I can prevent it."

He dropped the recruit to his feet. "Now get the hell back on your feet. Gray! Lark! You and Dove start hitting Jaune until he can block all three of you at once."

"All three of them? What? There's no way I'll beat all three of them."

"You're not supposed to, Jauney-Boy. You're supposed to not let them beat you." He gestured vaguely with his hand. "Go on, then."

As the four readied their weapons, the door opened, admitting Ozpin.

"Professor. Sir." Cardin stood at attention.

"Captain Winchester. I require a word with you. It should only take a moment."

Cardin glanced over at his team. "Of course. You four take a break. I'll be back." Ozpin nodded and led Cardin from the room.

"Oh, thank dust," Jaune exclaimed, slumping against the wall.

"Don't feel too bad about Cardin," Gray advised, patting Jaune's shoulder. "He's not too bad, really."

"Yeah, he probably won't let you get seriously hurt," Lark cracked, crossing to the wall and opening his locker. He deposited his halberd and turned back to Jaune. "Only a little."

"That's… comforting. Was he seriously this bad with you?"

"No," Gray admitted, putting away his own weapon. "But, well, he was training me when Russel was still, you know. Alive."

"You guys talk about him a lot."

"He was a good teammate," Dove observed.

"Bit of an ass sometimes, but yeah. Good guy," Lark agreed.

"What actually happened to him? If it's not insensitive to ask."

"No, you're coming in, you should know what you'll be going up against," Gray sat on the bench and gestured for Jaune to sit. He did. "Well," Gray began, "we were investigating Grimm reports out in Copse. You know, small village south of Vale? Anyway, there turned out to be Grimm. A lot of them. We ended up getting separated, and by the time we had driven them back… there wasn't much left of Russel to find."

"We retrieved his leg," Dove informed Jaune. Jaune blanched.

"His leg?"

"Most of it."

"That's… uh…"

"Yeah. Poor bastard."

"We haven't been out to investigate Grimm like that since." Lark shifted against the wall. "Ozpin won't let us. Says our job in the city is more important."

"Not supposed to be our job," Dove stated.

"Yeah. I know. Russel would've hated it, too. He only wanted to fight Grimm. Fits Cardin, though."

"Yeah, I was kind of confused by that when I signed up. Aren't hunters supposed to fight Grimm? Not criminals?"

"Ozpin's idea," Gray explained. "He thinks that criminals and gangs are more of a threat to people than the Grimm, and that police aren't doing their job."

"Can't blame him on that, really," Lark added. "Whole section of the city is run by Junior and his gang. No one will say it, but everyone knows it."

"Wait, Junior? I thought Ozpin was on good terms with him."

"Junior's keeping the peace, at least. Ozpin can't just throw him out."

"Yet."

"I don't think I want to fight him. He's even bigger than Cardin."

"You haven't even seen a Grimm yet," Gray laughed.

Lark smirked. "Cardin's a full Hunter, and a pretty damn good one. Mobster like Junior couldn't hold up against him."

"Size is not necessarily an indicator of capability," Dove advised.

"Alright, I get it. I'm an idiot." Jaune sighed. "But you guys all knew that."

"Nah, you're doing okay for a rookie. We've been doing this for years. You'll get the hang of it."

"Comparing your ability against Cardin's is unproductive."

"I still think you suck."

"Thanks, guys."

The door burst open, revealing a visibly angry Cardin.

"Alright. We've got orders for tonight. Suit up. Full gear."

Jaune glanced around. "Uh, all of us?"

"Yeah, you too, Jauney-Boy." Cardin slammed his locker door open and retrieved his mace. "We got some info from Junior about that Torchwick guy. Ozpin wants us to take him down."

"That's good, right? Guy sounded like he could use a swift kick to the balls."

Cardin glared at Gray. "We're working with Junior. And Xiao Long."

His team exchanged looks of confusion and surprise. Cardin sighed.

"Come on, CDGL. We're gonna go fight a gang war."

 **A/N:** CDGL is pronounced Cudgel. Also, my ego would like to thank the ten people following. I hope my story remain worthy of your attention.


	5. Escalation

"So, what are we looking for?" Nora asked, kicking a rock ahead of her as she and Ren walked through the forest.

"Anything unusual."

"What kind of unusual?"

"The location of the White Fang, or some information about their connection to the Grimm."

"Maybe their masks are magic that let them communicate with the Grimm!"

"I think that is unlikely."

"It would be cool, though!"

The Hunters emerged from the thick trees into a large clearing.

"Oh! A mining camp. It looks deserted, though." The pair looked around as they walked down the rows of portable shelters and tents.

"I wonder why Weiss didn't mention she had expanded out here."

"This is not Weiss' camp. There are no SDC logos or expensive machinery." Ren peered into one of the shelters. "It appears to be mostly hand and power tools."

"Oh, so someone's stealing her dust?"

Ren shook his head. "No, this land is not owned by the SDC. I do not believe it has a claimant. Mining here is not illegal."

"So, where do you think everyone is?"

"I don't know." Ren and Nora arrived at the edge of the quarry and peered over the edge.

"What is that?"

"It appears to be dust."

"Ren, it's black. There is no black dust."

"Not that we have encountered." The pair made their way down the slope to the crystalline formations jutting from the ground. Carts sat around it, filled with jagged cuttings from the black crystal. Nora peered into one of the carts.

"Hey, Ren, why do you think they left all of this here?"

"They must have left in a hurry." Ren gazed around the edge of the quarry before narrowing his eyes and slowly drawing StormFlower. "Or they never left at all."

Nora glanced at her partner and readied Magnhild. "You think it's a trap?" He nodded.

"Very observant."

Ren and Nora glared up at the figure who had appeared at the top of the cliff. He wore a Grimm mask under his horns and held one hand on the hilt of a sword.

"You got here faster than we expected. I'm sorry that we didn't have time to set up a proper welcome. Nonetheless, I have been asked to extend an invitation to you."

"Yeah, I don't think trying to kill our friends is a good way to get us to follow you."

"No. In fact, I'm hoping that you refuse. I'd quite like to kill you."

"Hey, Ren, do you think he'll be harder than the mech?"

"Wait." Ren held up a hand. "What is your name?"

"That doesn't matter."

"Who do you want us to meet?"

"That also doesn't matter."

"You are determined to fight."

"I am."

"Very well, then." Ren and the faunus crouched into a ready position. Nora twirled her hammer and grinned.

"Finally!"

The faunus suddenly slashed horizontally, spraying out a gust of black dust. As they watched, it swirled and coalesced, forming together into recognizable legs, body and head. The pair gasped as a bone-white mask with swirling red details settled over its face. A moment later, blood red eyes opened as the Ursa reared back and roared.

"Ren?"

"Yes, Nora?"

"He just made an Ursa."

"Yes, Nora."

"We should probably kill it."

"Yes, Nora."

The Ursa roared and charged down the incline at the pair. Nora leapt forward and smashed into its face, crumpling it backwards and sending into the ground, where it began dissipating. Above them, the faunus had disappeared.

"Come on, Ren!" Nora called back as she began sprinting up the side of the quarry. Before she could reach the top, three Beowolves leapt over the edge, forcing her back. With an annoyed grunt, Nora hefted Magnhild and swung it at them, firing as she did so and sending the three of them all tumbling into each other. A moment later, Ren was above them, his blades sinking into their necks. The pair continued up, reaching the crest of the slope and entering the camp. Which was now full of Grimm.

"Where'd he go?"

"I think escape is now our goal."

"Awwww…"

"We're escaping through a horde of Grimm."

"Ohhhhhh!"

Nora grinned and launched forward, bowling over another group of Beowolves and continuing on to smash down an Ursa. Ren followed behind, harrying the Grimm attempting to get behind her and finishing off any that she left on the ground.

Something suddenly flew out of the crowd of Grimm, striking Nora in the side and knocking her off balance. She crashed to the ground as the object rebounded upward into the waiting hand of the faunus from before, who advanced on Nora, preparing to strike.

"Adam!"

Another man, his face obscured by a hood, leapt out from the sea of Grimm, lifting a pair of daggers to block the faunus's blade.

"Stand back!" he shouted again, pushing the faunus backwards and whirling on the brandished a dagger at them. "Go away! You're not needed."

Ren watched in fascination as the Grimm settled back; some wandering away, others sitting to observe the new man. Nora crawled over and stood up next to Ren.

"Is that guy controlling the Grimm?" she whispered. Ren nodded slowly.

"Dammit, Adam!" the man shouted up at the faunus. "I said alive! And not hurt!"

The faunus—Adam—sheathed his sword and crossed his arms. "You also permitted me to act at my own discretion."

"No, I said if they attacked you could fight back. You didn't even give them a chance!"

"I had little reason to give them a chance. They are our enemies."

"No, these are good guys. They're like me."

"Is that supposed to instill confidence?"

"Okay, hold up," Nora said, holding up her hands. "Who are you, exactly?"

The man turned around, regarding Ren and Nora. "I guess it has been a while," he admitted, pulling down his hood to reveal a tall, green Mohawk. "But it's good to see you guys again."

The Hunters's eyes widened in recognition. "Russel?"

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"Yang, you really shouldn't be punching cars."

"Awww, come on," Yang pleaded, grinning broadly from her seat on Ruby's desk. "It's fun."

Ruby pouted up at her sister. "Yeah, but you're messing up my work."

"Sis, I punch stuff. It's what I do."

"You're supposed to be punching people.," Ruby grumbled.

"It was a tactical decision. Besides, you make good weapons. They should be able to handle a little car now and then."

"They probably could if the person using them didn't explode whenever she punched."

"You're just jealous."

"I am completely okay with not exploding."

"But Ember _Celica_ likes exploding. She's fun, unlike you." Ruby stuck her tongue out. Yang poked her nose. "You love me."

Ruby scrunched her nose. "Yeah, but you're my sister. That's cheating."

Yang folded her arms behind her head and leaned back against the wall. "Still counts."

Ruby clicked Ember _Celica_ , causing it to extend into its gauntlet forms. "Alright, she's done." She set down the weapons. "She should be able to punch through walls now. If you're still insane."

"Always, little sis," Yang replied cheerfully, gripping Ruby in a tight one-armed hug. Ruby hugged her back.

"Just be careful, okay? Because if anything happens, I'm coming in after you."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Me and Junior have been through worse than this."

The sisters sat in silence for a few moments.

"Yang…"

"Yeah?"

"Are you and Junior…. um…"

Yang gulped and looked sideways at Ruby. "Are we what? We're not anything. Why would we be anything?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yang!" Junior's voice rang out from the front of the shop. "We're ready to go."

"Go on. Go play with your boyfriend," Ruby giggled, shoving Yang out of her office.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Uh-huh. Go on. Have fun. Punch bad people."

Yang pulled Ruby into a final hug. "I'll see you soon, sis."

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Alone in his darkened office, whirling shadows crossing his face, Ozpin sat, contemplating the scroll placed on the desk before him. He waited, eyes fixed on the name emblazoned on the glowing screen.

The scroll buzzed. Three minutes later than he had estimated. Ozpin pressed the accept button and lifted the scroll, taking a sip from his mug.

"General."

James Ironwood stiffened even further, if it were possible. "Professor."

"I thought you might call."

Ironwood didn't blink. "Of course you did."

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I've heard some disturbing rumors about what's going on in Vale, Ozpin."

Ozpin sipped his mug. "Is that so."

"The White Fang attacked a Valesian village."

"That is true."

"And that criminals controlling a large portion of the city have begun open warfare."

"A slight exaggeration, perhaps."

Ironwood's eyes narrowed. "Ozpin, you're not protecting your people."

"I think we have different definitions of 'protection'."

"They deserve to be protected."

"We agree on that, at least."

"If you won't do it, Ozpin, then someone else will have to."

"Don't waste time justifying yourself, James. We both know your reasons, and it won't make a difference to anyone else."

"You cannot be allowed to remain in control of Vale."

"If you believe that you are capable of taking it from me, then you have every right to attempt to do so."

"You can't win, Ozpin. Atlas's army is larger and more advanced."

"Perhaps. But you don't have Beacon."

"Do you think your children can win a war?"

"Absolutely."

Ironwood and Ozpin stared at each other for a moment.

"Very well, Ozpin. You've made your choice."

"This choice was made a long time ago. Goodbye, James."

Ozpin ended the call.

"Glynda."

Glynda Goodwitch immediately entered the room. "Yes?"

"Recall Captain Winchester and his team. He has more pressing concerns now."

"Of course."

"And send out VCFY, BLDE, and MISL. I have no doubt that there are already Atlesian forces in the city. We must be able to respond immediately."

"What of myself? And the professors?"

"Bartholomew must continue his work. It is too important to be interrupted. Peter as well. And I'd rather you yourself did not leave the grounds, as well."

"As you wish."

 **A/N:** VCFY: Victory. BLDE: Blade. MISL: Missile. Fun fact: MISL is based off of my OC team, LPIS (Lapis), which I created before I even had the idea for this story, though it has not appeared in any fics. For those worried that I'm going to flood the story with OC's, don't be. BLDE and MISL will only appear in the background, if at all. There are enough characters to keep track of already.


	6. From Atlas with Love

Weiss stood on the roof of her manor, watching the elegant airship lowering down onto the landing pad before her. Three SDC security guards stood around her, but she still felt much less safe than she did with Pyrrha.

The airship's ramp lowered, revealing two more SDC security guards standing inside. They walked down and stood at the base of the ramp facing inward. A moment later, a tall woman with a large sword and hair pulled back into a neat bun appeared at the top of the ramp. She cheerfully stepped down the ramp, waving at her guards. She gasped in delight when she saw the heiress waiting for her.

"Weiss!" The taller woman rushed forward, capturing Weiss in a tight hug. "Oh, you're alright."

Weiss returned the hug stiffly. "Hello, Winter."

Winter pulled back and held her at arm's length. "You are alright, aren't you? Not hurt?"

"You don't need to act concerned. There's no press here."

The look of hurt on Winter's face would have been convincing if Weiss didn't know her so well. "Can't you believe I'd care about my sister?"

"No."

Winter shrugged. "Well, at least it's mutual."

"Charming." Weiss turned and led Winter to the elevator, dismissing her guards with a wave of her hand.

"So, to what do I owe the displeasure of your visit?"

"Atlas is going to war with Vale."

Weiss whirled around to face her sister. "What?"

"Ironwood claims that it's for the good of the Valesian citizens. He gave a big speech about how dangerous it is here, and how it's our duty to keep the people of the world safe."

"How generous. Does Professor Ozpin know about this?"

"I'm sure he does."

The elevator doors opened and the sisters walked out into a hallway.

"Why now? This is not a good time for war."

"Vale is weak. What better time than now?"

Weiss glanced over at her sister. "You don't seem terribly concerned about this."

"Should I be? I can't do anything about it. I can't control Ironwood, Weiss."

"You could at least talk to him. Withdraw the support of the SDC! He can't attack without his Knights."

"Why would I do that? The SDC is making millions from his contracts." She looked at Weiss. "Maybe you should try selling to Ozpin better."

The pair entered a cozy study. Winter sat gracefully into a soft couch, while Weiss stood opposite her.

"You're… okay with this."

Winter shrugged. "Like I said; not much I can do. Besides, if the fighting is all with androids, that saves lives, right?"

"But what about civilians?"

"I don't think civilians are stupid enough to get in the way of robots with guns."

"You don't think there will be any civilian casualties?"

"It's a war, Weiss. There will always be casualties."

Weiss threw up her hands in annoyance. "I can't believe you would just accept this!"

Winter narrowed her eyes. "Why shouldn't I? It's a good business opportunity. I'm taking advantage of it to expand the company. You know, like I'm supposed to do."

"Dad wouldn't want you to fund a war, though."

"He gave me control of the Atlas branch and told me to do whatever I saw fit to do. So I am."

"This isn't what he meant!"

"No? And what have you done with Vale, then?"

"Plenty! We've more than tripled in size since I took over, and our mining operations-"

"Are being destroyed by Faunus terrorists." Winter gave her sister a patronizing expression. "Really, which of us do you think is going to come out on top here?"

Weiss pressed a hand over her eyes. "I had rather hoped you hadn't come here to fight."

"And what else would we do, dear sister?"

"I thought perhaps you had come to see how Pyrrha was doing. Or at least discuss business."

"We are discussing business."

"You know what I meant."

"Maybe," Winter laughed, "But antagonizing you is far more fun."

"You are impossible."

"Only for you, dear sister."

Weiss snorted. "If there's someone you're not impossible for, I need to hire them."

"Terribly sorry, but I already did."

"Oh, really? Who is he?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Will I?"

"Mmm-hmm. Actually, that's part of the reason I came to Vale. I was hoping to talk to him."

"He's in Vale, then?"

"Oh, very observant, Weiss. I can see why you're father's favorite."

"I'm his favorite because you're an idiot."

Winter stood. "If that's what you think. I'm going to retire to my room now, sister dearest. It's been quite a long trip."

"It's where it's always been," Weiss informed her.

"Thank you." Winter started to walk out of the room, pausing at the doorway to look at her sister. "You should get some rest, too, Weiss. After all, you're going to have a very busy day."

Smirking, Winter left the room, leaving a mildly confused Wiess behind her.

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"Junioooor," Yang whined, "do we have to work with him?"

Junior sighed. "Yes, Yang," he repeated, not turning to look at her as he surveyed the warehouse's blueprints. "This is basically a military operation. If Winchester's with us, he can't be against us."

"But he suuucks."

Melanie and Miltia huffed from their place at the bar.

"Oh, come on, guys. Don't say you actually like the guy."

"Anyone who hits you in the head can't be too bad," Melanie snarked, crossing her arms and glaring at Yang.

"Awww, I know you guys like me."

"We really don't."

"Will you two just shut up?" Junior asked, glaring back at his employees.

"Are we ready, Junior?" spoke up Miltia.

"Yeah, close enough," Junior answered glancing toward her. "Alright, let's go. We're supposed to meet Winchester in about half an hour anyway."

Cardin and his team, along with several of Junior's men, were already waiting when Yang arrived on Bumblebee. The hunter rolled his eyes as she pulled off her helmet and walked up to them.

"Finally one of you is here. Could we possibly get this

Yang ignored him, instead flashing Jaune a smile. "Hey there. Nice to see someone who isn't an asshole."

"Uhhh… thanks?"

"No problem."Yang patted Jaune on the shoulder before Cardin pushed in between them.

"Where the hell is your boss?"

Yang tilted her head to the side as the sound of a car engine drew nearer. "Sounds like he's right about here." The car turned the corner and drew to a stop. Junior and the twins exited it.

"Captain Winchester," Junior greeted stiffly, extending an arm.

"Mr. Xiong," Cardin replied, taking his hand. The two stood for a moment, glaring at each other, before Dove coughed.

"Captain, I believe we need to review our battle strategy."

"Right," Cardin muttered, turning away from Junior. "So, you have the layout like you said you did?"

"Of course," Junior said, pulling the blueprint from inside his suit. "There are three entrances; the main garage door, the office, and around the back of the garage."

"Okay. How much weight are you people going to pull?"

Junior glared. "I assure you, we can handle ourselves."

Cardin waved him off. "Actually, I don't care if you get killed Just don't do it too quickly."

"Actually, I would prefer it if you didn't get killed. I'd rather not have to explain to Ozpin how incompetent his Hunter captain is."

"Can we just work together? Maybe?" Jaune asked. Both men turned to glare at him, instead. "Uh… without the glaring? You know, since we, uh, we're supposed to… work together… and stuff?"

"Yeah, the sooner we do this, the sooner it'll be done and we can go back to fighting each other. Right, guys?" Yang put in cheerfully.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind…"

"You are correct, however," Dove agreed. "Hostility is detrimental to our mutual goals."

"Ugh, can you talk like a normal person?" Melanie asked.

"Can you not dress like a prostitute?" Lark shot back.

"We look good," Miltia mumbled.

"Of course we do. He just wouldn't know a good-looking girl if she punched him in the groin."

"That's probably because I gouged my own eyes out after having to look at you."

"Well, bloody holes in your face would be an improvement."

"Enough!" Junior shouted. "Let's just get this over with so we don't have to deal with each other anymore."

Melanie glared at Lark. He grinned back. "You want me."

Before Melanie could respond, Cardin pushed in between them.

"Alright! Lark, knock it off. Blue Twin, calm the fuck down."

"My name is Melanie."

"Good for you."

Melanie crossed her arms and huffed, turning away from Cardin.

"Okay. Can we all act like adults now?"

No one spoke.

"Thank you. Junior, your men give covering fire from the front. I'll take my team around the back and-"

Cardin's scroll rang.

He glanced back at his team before pulling it from his pocket and answering it. "Hello?" He looked up at Junior and turned away.

"What do you think that's about?" Yang whispered to Junior.

"No idea. But if it's something he's willing to take while he's on duty, it must be important."

"How do you know it isn't just his boyfriend?" Yang asked, smirking. Junior rolled his eyes.

"He didn't get to his position by being bad at his job," he replied, just as Cardin returned to the group.

"Well, as much as it pains me, I must leave you all to die," he announced.

"Excuse me?" Yang asked, voicing the group's confusion.

"Ozpin needs us for a more important assignment."

"A more important assignment? I thought Torchwick was a top priority."

"Not anymore." Cardin gestured for his team to follow him. "We've got a bigger problem."

"Like what?"

A loud humming noise filled their ears. The assembled group turned to stare up into the sky, where three Atlesian warships hung in the air.

"That," Cardin answered.

 **A/N:** I'm sorry for uploading such a short chapter after such a long break! The next one should be both longer and sooner. And also pleasing for Zuri.


	7. Robotic Uprising

"Uh, Cardin?" Jaune spoke hesitantly as CDGL's leader led his team.

"What?"

"Are we just going to leave them?"

"The city's being invaded. A couple thugs are not important right now."

"But shouldn't the military be dealing with that?"

"We are the military."

"Oh."

A violent burst of blue suddenly flew out of the neighboring alley, striking Dove in the chest and sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Ambush!" Cardin yelled as another pulse shot out, Jaune narrowly managing to deflect it with his shield before it could strike Lark.

"Shit!" Lark cried, stumbling back.

Next, a flurry of blue-green missiles rained down from the sky, several of them striking Gray with hissing sounds as he yelped in pain, while Jaune shielded himself and Lark.

"Ha ha!" A cry from above caused them to look up. A man was plunging down from the rooftop, staff in hand, a long tail flowing behind him.

"Fucking animals," Cardin growled, readying his mace. He swung it at where the faunus was about to land, but at the last second he twisted and flipped over, neatly avoiding Cardin's mace. He struck Cardin about the head with his staff and jumped toward Lark while Cardin stumbled.

"Hi. I'm Sun. This is Ruyi Bang." He struck Lark across the face with one of his nunchaku. "And this is Jingu Bang." He struck Lark in the stomach with the second, then kicked him in the chest, sending him to the ground. "They say 'hello.'"

"Cut the theatrics, man." A man with bright blue hair and a pair of goggles leapt out of the alley wielding a giant glaive. "Just fight."

"I am! Look, one down already!" Sun countered as he ducked under Jaune's wildly-swung sword.

A third man with red hair and matching half-cape jumped out from behind the second, flinging a dagger at Gray, who hastily parried it away.

"And you could have had two." The blue-haired man leapt at Cardin, his glaive transforming into a trident as he delivered a downward blow. Cardin swiped his weapon away and punched him in the chest, sending him crashing into a wall.

"Come on, that's just bad," Sun called back as he delivered a series of blows against Jaune's shield.

Another burst of the blue-green pulses came down, this time all centered on Jaune. With a yelp, he raised his shield to block them, only to receive the end of Sun's staff in his gut. He doubled over and Sun smashed the back of his head.

The red-haired man was continually driving back Gray, not allowing him to so much as think of attacking as he kept up a hailstorm of daggers. Each one thrown would vanish in a small puff as soon as they were dodged or deflected, only to reappear in his hand a moment later and immediately hurled again. Desperately, Gray dove to the side and swung his sword, sending a burst of flame from the grooves in its side, but his assailant simple rolled out of the way and continued his assault.

Cardin was faring slightly better, his raw strength and momentum not allowing the blue-haired man to get a decent attack in. After a particularly viscous blast to the ground, the blue-haired man glanced around for his companion.

"Scarlet! Switch!"

The red-haired man obliged, rolling in front of Cardin and throwing his daggers, distracting him long enough for the blue-haired man to jump away. Cardin turned his attention to the newcomer.

Scarlet smirked and twirled his cape. "Come, bull."

Cardin glared and rushed toward him, preparing for his opponent to move away. As the red-haired man sidestepped him, Cardin changed direction, ramming his shoulder directly into the man's stomach and throwing him up into the air. Cardin followed through with a swing of his mace, igniting the dust crystal in its head and sending Scarlet crashing through the wall of a nearby building.

Cardin didn't have long to recover, though, as a green-haired man leapt out of the ally, firing several of the blue-green pulses at him from the end of a spear. Cardin rolled to the side, dodging the blasts, only to come up directly next to Sun.

"Hello!" The faunus said cheerfully, twirling his staff. He struck out, catching Cardin's leg and tripping him before he could get away. Cardin swung his mace up at the faunus, forcing him to keep his distance, as he rolled back to his feet. The green-haired spearman stepped forward, preparing to attack again, but was forced backwards as several rifle shots reflected off of his aura. Lark was back on his feet. Cardin grinned and lunged upward into Sun, surprising him and forcing him backwards. The faunus barely avoided Cardin's mace, tumbling back and twisting up to his feet.

Meanwhile, Lark continued firing at the green-haired man, forcing him to focus on defense, while Gray dodged around Neptune, not staying still long enough to be hit.

Grinning, Cardin stepped forward, looming over Sun, when a hail of bullets suddenly burst against the Faunus's aura.

"Hello, Cardin. Need some help?" came Coco's bemused drawl. Cardin glanced up at the roof of the building behind him, where VCFY stood. He grimaced as he turned back to the Atlesians.

The ground shook as Yatsuhashi crashed down among the Atlesian team, sending them stumbling backwards. Immediately following him, Fox appeared behind Neptune, striking him with his wrist blades. Velvet landed behind Yatsuhashi and immediately began launching her own projectiles at the green-haired man while Coco landed next to her continued her assault on Sun.

"Shit! Get out!" Sun shouted to his teammates as he continued backing down the street, twirling his staff to deflect Coco's fire.

Neptune leapt onto his glaive and fired it at the ground, propelling him down the street. The green-haired man conjured up a barrier and took off after him. Sun struck his hands together and two brightly-glowing copies of him charged at the assembled Hunters before taking off himself.

Cardin easily dispatched one copy while Yatsuhashi struck down the other as Velvet stepped forward.

"Coco. Send them off."

"Of course, dear," Coco replied, smirking, as shereadied her minigun again and fired at the Atlesian's retreating forms.

"Fox. Yatsuhashi, keep an eye on them."

Fox nodded and jumped, shimmering and reappearing on the roof of the building. Yatsuhashi bowed before following. Velvet turned to Cardin.

"Who among you is injured?"

Jaune groaned as he sat up, looking around groggily. Cardin grimaced at him.

"Dove is probably the worst off. He got hit at the start of the fight and he hasn't moved since."

Velvet nodded and immediately knelt next to Dove, inspecting his wound.

"So…" Jaune started, looking around. "Did we win?"

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Ruby watched from her shop as the Atlesian forces leapt down from the airships floating above. A full contingent of androids, hundreds of them, were lining up outside her shop, and if they weren't here to invade her town, they would've been awesome. As she watched, an orange-haired girl in a green dress with a large, pink bow in her hair walked up to the front of the robots. Wait, was she their commander? She really didn't look the part. She looked just like… like Ruby, really.

Ruby put a hand on the door handle. Maybe she could talk to her. See if she could stop the fighting. Surely she would be reasonable, right? Atlas and Vale didn't need to fight. They could work together.

An explosion rattled the windows. The girl outside didn't flinch. Ruby needed to do something.

With a deep breath, Ruby opened her door and stepped confidently outside.

"Uh, hi? Hello? Miss commander?" Okay, maybe not so confidently.

Immediately, the girl whirled around, and leapt towards her, blades springing from her back and spinning around her.

"Woah! Wait! Non-combatant!"

The girl raised a finger at Ruby, her blades still hanging menacingly in the air. "Identify yourself!"

"Uh, Ruby Rose. I'm a smith."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "You are registered as a capable fighter. Not a non-combatant."

"Well, I can fight, yeah, but I'm not. So… non-combatant, right?"

"That… makes sense. But then, why are you here?"

Ruby shrugged. "I guess I just want to talk."

"I'm not supposed to talk to you."

"Why not?"

"General Ironwood said not to."

"Well, General Ironwood doesn't sound like much fun to me."

The girl relaxed slightly. "He is a general. He is not supposed to be fun."

"Did he say that, too?"

"Yes."

"Well, you seem like you'd be more fun than him."

"I do?"

"Yup! I like you."

The girl perked up. "Do you mean that we are friends?"

"Sure! I'm always up for more friends."

"Sensational!" exclaimed the girl, smiling broadly and thrusting her arms in the air in celebration.

"I have not had a friend before. What are friends supposed to do?"

"Aww, you've never had a friend before? We'll have to fix that." Ruby hummed in thought. "Oh! I completely forgot to ask your name!"

"I am Penny," the girl replied.

"Well, nice to meet you Penny!" Ruby said, extending her hand.

Penny looked it over, confused.

"You're supposed to shake it," Ruby supplied helpfully.

"Oh!" Penny exclaimed, grabbing Ruby's hand with both of her own and shaking it vigorously. "I am sorry. I had forgotten!"

"That's alright," Ruby consoled, pulling her hand away. Penny's hand had felt odd. Almost like metal. Ruby inspected the girl more closely; she had smooth skin with no hair except on her head, an oddly stiff posture, even for a soldier, and… were those seams?

Wait, was this girl a robot? Ruby blinked. That. Was. Awesome.

"Wait, are you a robot?"

"What?"

An explosion sounded off in the distance. Ruby and Penny both readied their weapons as they looked around for its source to find smoke rising from a pristine white building.

"Is that Schnee Manor?" Ruby questioned, lowering Crescent Rose.

"Yes. That is odd. We were not to attack civilian targets."

"Wait you mean that wasn't you guys?"

"No, it was not. I have no reports of any Atlesian forces in that vicinity."

Ruby turned her gaze back to the manor, biting her lip in contemplation before her eyes opened wide.

"The White Fang! They must be using the invasion as cover for an attack!" Ruby whirled around to face Penny. "Please! You have to help. There aren't enough forces in Vale to deal with everything!"

Penny gazed at the rising smoke. "We are supposed to be fighting the terrorists. General Ironwood gave a very important speech about that."

"See? They're just trying to hurt people. Vale is trying to protect them. Atlas and Vale should be working together, not fighting."

"I… am unsure about that. General Ironwood said it was necessary."

"He has to say that. He's a general. But the people you really need to fight are the ones hurting innocent people. Please."

Penny looked into Ruby's pleading eyes, then quickly looked away. "Very well. Lead the way, friend Ruby."

Ruby smiled broadly. "Alright! Let's go help people!"


	8. Family Matters

"I must say, Adam, you are quite effective at your job. Much better than your girlfriend."

Adam didn't even glance in Torchwick's direction as the pair strode down the halls of Schnee Manor.

"I mean, really! A successful frontal attack on this place is nothing to Schneeze at." He grinned sideways at Adam, who continued to ignore him. "Of course, you never could have managed it without my help, but still. The tenacity of your fighters The ferocity. The brutality. It's so refreshing to work with non-humans."

Adam growled.

"Exactly my point!" Torchwick exclaimed, laughing.

"Sir." Hashimoto spoke, arriving from down a side corridor. "We've found them."

"Oh, are we taking a trip to the kennels?" Roman asked lightly as Adam turned to follow the lieutenant.

"You know what we're doing. You don't need to speak."

"Always so dramatic," Torchwick sighed with an exaggerated shake of his head. Hashimoto snorted. "See? At least someone appreciates me."

"Usually I want to kill you."

"That's the reaction I usually get. It's part of my charm."

"They're in here. You have the key?"

"Of course," Roman said, handing it over to Adam, who gave him a confused look. "She's your girlfriend."

Adam shook his head and opened the door.

"I'm just saying that explosions have to be good for us, right?"

"Unless we are trapped by debris, not a priority for the invaders, or used as hostages."

"Luckily, none of that will happen."

Blake leapt to her feet, staring out from the bars of her cell. "Adam!"

"Sir!"

"Hello, Blake. Gavin. Ray." Adam crossed over to the cell door and opened it, freeing the two faunus inside. "Are you hurt?"

"They are," Blake replied, "Though not badly. I have fully recovered."

"Good. You two head out. I need a word with Blake."

"Right."

Adam waited until Gavin and Ray had left the room before turning to Blake.

"I'm… glad your alright."

"Me too."

There was an awkward pause. Roman cleared his throat loudly.

"This is very touching, but I believe we have a job to do."

"Right. Hashimoto?"

The large man retrieved something from his back and handed it to Blake. "We found their confiscated weapons."

"I thought you might want this back."

Blake took hold of the weapon. "Thank you."

"Now, there is something we need you to do."

"You want me to kill the Schnee."

Adam nodded. "Though not just her. Her sister is here, too."

"Both of them?" Blake glanced at Roman. "I thought we needed the elder."

"Well, not particularly," Roman commented. "Besides, if only one dies, that would look odd, wouldn't it?"

"That does make sense."

"And I already have everything I need from her. So you animals have all the fun you want."

The three faunus glared at Roman.

"Come on," Adam growled. "Blake, we'll make sure you aren't interrupted. Good luck."

Blake nodded andvanished down the corridor.

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"Winter!" Weiss burst into the ballroom to find her sister sitting calmly as the building shook from another explosive impact.

"Ah, there you are, Weiss." Winter greeted, gently setting down her teacup and standing.

"We need to go. Atlas is invading and the White Fang is here."

"I'm quite aware."

"Then let's go."

"No need to worry, Weiss. I'm quite fine."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I am in no danger."

"No danger? How are you in no danger?"

"You recall my contact? He knows where I am and will ensure that I am not harmed."

"Your contact… is with the White Fang?"

"Not exactly. He's independent."

"Roman Torchwick."

"Oh, you know him already? That complicates things."

"You planned the White Fang attack."

"Yes."

"But the White Fang needed the cover of Atlas's invasion to attack. You couldn't have…" Weiss gaped at her sister. "This war, Atlas's invasion, that was you?"

"Of course it was!"

"You started a war!"

"I've done what I needed to."

"You've killed hundreds of people! Thousands!"

"I have done what is necessary for our company and our family!"

"How does this help?"

"Simple. We provide to both sides of the war. The SDC is making a fortune off of it."

Weiss gaped at her sister. "You've killed thousands of people for a profit?"

"Not just for that. I wanted to prove that I could help the company."

"You… you want father to make you heir?"

"Like he should have done in the first place! I've always been willing to sacrifice more for our family! I've worked harder than you! I've done more than you! I've always been better than you!"

"Winter, do you seriously think father would promote you for this?"

Winter closed her eyes. "Maybe. Maybe you're right, for once. Yes, I should have been more direct."

"So you'll stop the war?"

"Oh, no. It's still profitable, anyway. But it won't solve my real problem." Winter drew the sword from off of her back and fixed her gaze on Weiss. "My real problem is you."

Weiss's eyes grew wide as comprehension dawned. "Winter, don't-" She barely managed to fall back as Winter's sword swung at her. Winter laughed.

"You have no idea how satisfying it is to see daddy's princess fall on her ass in fear." She stepped forward, bringing her sword to bear again. "But it'll be more fun to see you out of my way entirely."

Weiss cast a glyph, thrusting herself up into the air, drawing Myrtenaster as she flipped over Winter and landed, facing her. "Winter, this is insane," she pleaded. "I don't want to fight you."

Winter swung again and Weiss took a step back. "Well too bad, because I want to fight you."

"Father will be angry if you kill me," Weiss argued, parrying another attack.

Winter shrugged. "There have been a lot of white fang attacks lately, Sis. Wouldn't be too hard to pin it on them. Hell, maybe I can even make it look like I tried to save you."

Winter conjured a small flame glyph and sent it spinning at Weiss, who dodged to the side. Weiss responded by launching herself off a glyph of her own, spinning above her sister and sending a jet of ice down at her. Winter countered with a blast of flame before sending another pair of glyphs, these ones sparkling with electricity. Weiss blocked them with her own semblance and fired a jolt of lightning down Myrtenaster at her sister, who was thrown back by the blast.

"You've been practicing, Sis!" Winter shouted, rolling to her feet and firing another blast of fire from her sword. Weiss didn't respond, only leaping over the wall of fire and preparing to fall upon Winter. Winter was ready. Sidestepping her sister's lunge, Winter swung down at Weiss's unprotected side, her sword coated in heavy earth that slammed into Weiss, sending her bouncing across the floor.

Weiss trembled as she rose to her feet, still reeling from the blow she had received. Winter advanced upon her, sword raised.

"I always was better than you, Weiss."

She brought her sword down, Weiss barely managing to block it as she was thrown backwards into the wall. Her vision blurred as she slid down it to land in a crumpled heap on the floor. She raised her head, expecting Winter to be there, ready to deliver a fatal blow. She wasn't.

Weiss blinked and looked around. There was Winter, wildly swinging her sword around her at what seemed to be a shadow. What?

Weiss blinked again. Not a shadow. A person. A woman who… made shadows? The woman danced around Winter, easily evading her heavy sword and glyphs, often leaving shadows behind to confuse her. Then, with a flash, her blade darted out across Winter's shoulder, sending flecks of red across the polished floor and drawing a scream from Winter.

Winter stumbled at the woman, swinging her sword wildly. The woman easily slipped behind her, raised her weapon, and fired two shots. Winter fell to the ground.

There was silence as Weiss rose to her feet, gazing at her sister's body. "Is she dead?"

The woman knelt next to Winter and pressed a hand to her neck. "Yes."

"Oh."

The woman stood back up, still not looking at Weiss.

"Who are you?"

The woman glanced at her before looking back down. She wore white and black clothing, and had hair with odd tufts sticking up from it. No, not tufts of hair. Ears. "You're the White Fang assassin."

The woman looked up at her. "Yes."

"You saved my life."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

Footsteps echoed down the corridor The assassin glanced at the door, then at Weiss, before readying her weapon and firing it up at the ceiling and launching herself out of the window.

"Wait!" Wiess called, running after her. But she was gone.

"Miss Schnee! Are you alright?"

She turned to see her security officers in the door. Two had gone over to her sister, while two more were approaching her.

"Miss Schnee? What happened?"

Weiss looked back out of the window for a moment, then back at her officers. "A lot, apparently. We must contact Professor Ozpin."


	9. The Home Front

"Okay, that is very not good," Ruby observed. She and Penny had arrived at the Schnee Manor, where the SDC security was being overrun by the White Fang. The east wing of the building had a gaping hole in its front, and flames danced through a hole in the roof. On the grounds, several dozen masked and armed Faunus were spraying the building with bullets, while two large mechs towered over them, firing volleys of missiles at the building as well.

"Those are Paladins!" Penny exclaimed. "How did the White Fang get a hold of them?"

"I don't know," Ruby answered, drawing and unfolding Crescent Rose. "But they won't have them for long.

Penny nodded. "Alright, Ruby. Since you are a non-combatanat, you should stay back here."

"Awww, but I can fight! You said so!"

"Not these."

Penny took off toward the manor, several swords springing out of her back and taking positions behind her. Her Knights followed her, though two stayed behind with a pouting Ruby.

"Can't fight, huh? Let's see about that."

As Penny and her soldiers ruched forward, Ruby buried Crescent Rose's blade in the ground, lining up the barrel with one of the mechs. Just as the Knights began firing, drawing the White Fang's attention, Ruby fired. Her bullet flew, striking the Paladin dead center in the cockpit, and it suddenly stopped moving. Ruby pumped her arm in victory. "Yeah!"

Meanwhile, Penny's swords were circling around her as she tore through the White Fang's ranks, throwing them away from her. They had begun firing back at her forces, but the Knights' heavy armor deflected the majority of the bullets.

What they did not protect against, however, was the second paladin's missiles, which sprayed down into the Atlesian forces, sending the Knights flying. Penny turned to fight it, but was intercepted by a giant man in a White Fang mask with a chainsaw. The man leapt forward, bringing down the chainsaw in an overhand strike, and Penny pulled her swords forward to block. The pair exchanged blows, allowing the mech to continue devastating Penny's forces.

Glancing between Penny and the mech, Ruby again readied Crescent rose to fire. She shot at the mech, hoping for a repeat success, but it only glanced off the plating. "Shoot." She fired again, this time missing entirely. Again and again, each time hitting nothing important. Finally, she stomped her foot in impatience and glanced at Penny, who was still preoccupied with the giant chainsaw-wielding man.

"Okay. I can do this."

She pulled Crescent Rose from the ground and held it ready. As soon as the mech fired another salvo, she ran forward, leaving behind a trail of red petals. In moments, she was up close with the mech. She dashed between its legs, swiping at one with her blade. The mech raised its leg out of the way and spun around on the other, swinging an arm at her.

Penny was suddenly in front of her, arms raised to absorb the blow from the mech. Metal screeched against metal as Penny slid backwards, holding fast against the massive fist.

"Do not hurt my friend!"

Penny's swords began spinning rapidly, turning into a glowing green and silver blur, before shooting forward and slicing straight through the Paladin's cockpit. The giant mech shuddered, then fell, its top half sliding completely off and landing at Penny's feet with a loud thump.

Ruby blinked as Penny turned to face her, frowning. "I told you to stay back."

"Well… yeah… but I wanted to help," Ruby muttered, kicking at the ground nervously.

The ground underneath her suddenly exploded, sending her flying backwards.

"Ruby!"

Ruby shook her head as she stood, clutching Crescent Rose. "I'm good!"

"Well, now." Penny and Ruby both turned to see that two more men had emerged from the hole in the building's side. The speaker was a man in a white coat and bowler hat. Beside him was a member of the White Fang, his fancy mask designating him as a leader. "This is a surprise! Vale and Atlas working together against a common foe. It just warms the heart, doesn't it?"

"Just kill them," the White Fang commander growled.

"Now, now, Adam. We must at least try to be civilized." The human turned back to them. "You there." He gestured at Penny with his cane. "You're Atlesian, aren't you? Why do you care about this?"

"We had orders not to engage civilians. This is terrorism, not war."

"Please. Civilian targets are the best! They're not defended, they cause panic, and they make the soldiers come at you angry. Besides, Schnee is actually a member of the Valesian army. This isn't a civilian target, even though everyone treats it like one."

Penny shook her head. "You're a bad person. I can't just let you kill people."

"This is going nowhere." The commander turned to the giant man, who had joined the other two. "Hashimoto."

The giant man obliged, rushing forward at Penny, his chainsaw raised. Three of the swords jerked down as the chainsaw passed by Penny's shoulder before dropping completely to the ground. Penny backed away, glancing down at them.

"So, it's not magic. You can break." Hashimoto stepped forward, raising his saw.

Penny leapt backwards, knocking the saw aside with several of the swords while the others struck him in the chest, throwing him back at Adam's feet. Adam growled, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword, and rushed forward. Before he could get close, however, an intricate glyph appeared in front of him, throwing him back.

Ruby turned and yelled in surprise. "Miss Schnee!"

Weiss Schnee strode down the front steps, glaring at Penny and the White Fang. "We have to fight Atlas as well as the White Fang now?"

"No! They're helping us!" Ruby rushed in front of Penny, throwing her arms wide.

"At least some of them have sense, then." Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ruby. "Ruby Rose? What are you doing here?"

"I came to help!"

"Well, fine, but don't get in the way." Weiss raised Myrtenaster and stepped forward, even with Penny, who turned to face the White Fang.

"Shall we?"

"After you, Miss Schnee!"

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"So…" Melanie said, watching the retreating backs of CDGL. "We still doing this?"

"Hell yeah!" Yang exclaimed, punching her palm and cracking her neck. "We didn't need them anyway."

Turning toward the building, Junior spoke up. "Yeah. Plan's the same, we just don't have Hunter backup."

"But what about the city?" Miltia asked quietly, gazing at the ships overhead.

"Hey, if Ozpin gets booted out, that's hardly a bad thing, right?"

"Quiet, Yang. Either way, this could be our only chance to make this attack. The city'll hold; Ozpin's got worse dogs than Winchester. But if Torchwick's boss gets the chance to reinforce…"

"Alright, then. Since we don't have Cardin, where do you want us?"

Junior looked between Yang and the twins. "Yang and I will go straight through the middle. You two, take a few of the boys and go round the back."

Melanie nodded. "Come on, Miltia."

Junior turned to his remaining forces as he shouldered his bat. "Alright. I'm going to open the door. You all get ready for whatever comes out."

The assembled men nodded, drawing an assortment of swords and guns. Yang cracked her neck and bounced on the ball of her feet.

Gunfire suddenly rang out from the surrounding buildings.

"Shit! Ambush!"

Junior's forces quickly recovered, ducking into cover and returning fire.

"Now, you didn't think we'd let you get in that easy, did you?"

Junior and Yang turned to see a man and a woman, clad in silver and green, respectively. They both stood casually, the man's arms crossed and the woman's at her side.

"You… you're hunters, right? Mercury and Emerald from CMNE. Did Ozpin send you as backup?"

The man laughed. "Oh, we're backup, all right. But not from Ozpin."

Emerald drew her guns and fired. Yang dove to the side, avoiding the shots, while Junior drew his bat.

"All right, what the hell's going on?"

Mercury dashed forward and leapt into the air, bringing both his feet down. Junior raised his bat in time to block the attack, and Mercury kicked off of it, sending Junior stumbling back. Landing on his feet, Mercury kicked out at Junior, firing a shot from his boot. Junior again blocked with his bat before swinging at Mercury's head. The hunter leapt back, staying just out of range of Junior's attacks.

Meanwhile, Yang had locked her gauntlets into place and was charging at Emerald, dodging shots as she went. Before she could reach the woman, though, Emerald fired a hook off at a nearby building, pulling herself away from Yang's fists. Yang growled and turned after her. Emerald repeated the process, dodging away before Yang could get within striking distance, but still not landing a hit on Yang.

Yang cursed as she ended up exactly where she began, Emerald laughing as she again jumped away. Yang glanced around for some advantage.

Junior's forces were preoccupied with Torchwick's, and Yang doubted they would be much good against trained hunters anyway. Around the side of the warehouse, Yang caught a glimpse of the twins fighting the same pink girl she had seen with Roman. And nearby, Junior was still fighting with Mercury. Yang grinned at the sight of Mercury's back.

She dashed forward toward Emerald again, repeating the same process that had occurred three times now. But this time, when Emerald shot away, Yang suddenly changed direction, dashing away from Emerald and striking Mercury squarely in the back. She grinned at his shout of surprise and pain as he tumbled face-first into the ground. Seeing his opportunity, Junior shouldered his bat, changing its mode, and fired a rocket at Emerald. It flew past her, striking the side of the building where her hook was attached, and dropping her to the ground below.

Mercury rolled onto his feet and turned to face Yang, his eyes narrowed. Yang grinned and gestured for him to come forward. He paused for a moment as though he had heard something before grinning and charging. Yang grinned back as she ran to meet him.

Yang's fist met Mercury's foot as both of them fired. There was a small explosion between them as they were each sent reeling backwards.

Suddenly, an arrow whistled past Yang's ear and shattered against the ground. Yang barely had time to look up before another flew at her, shattering against her aura. Yang scrambled to her feet, backing away as the arrows continued raining down.

"Junior!"

He glanced over from where he was fighting with Emerald.

"They have reinforcements!"

Junior cursed and swatted Emerald away with his bat.

"We've got to get out!" Junior called back.

"What?"

"We're losing men," Junior told her. "We don't have the strength."

"Dammit!"

Junior shouldered his rocket launcher and fired at the roof of the warehouse. The arrows stopped. "Gather everyone up. I'll cover us."

Yang nodded and dashed off to where the twins were still fighting.

Fifteen minutes later, Junior's battered forces were a dozen blocks away.

Looking around at the injured men and seething twins, Yang spoke up. "Well… that was a thing."

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 **A/N:** Hey look! I updated! It's only been like six months, but that's okay, right guys?

...hello? Is anyone there?

Anyway, if anyone would be interested in beta'ing for me, shoot me a PM. I could use one. Because I can't spell sometimes. And also it would probably help me keep to my schedule, so... win-win.


	10. Damage Dealt

"So… where are we headed, exactly?" Jaune glanced at Cardin as they jogged through the eerily empty streets.

"We've got reports of heavy Atlas activity on the east side of the city. The hunters are patrolling for Atlas' special forces; we just have to take out their main force."

"Oh, is that all? No problem."

"Don't worry. The droids are no match for hunters."

"As long as they remember that, it'll be fine."

Behind them, Lark was worrying over Dove's injuries.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I am well enough. My aura is not entirely depleted; I will still be available for combat."

"Dude, you took a laser to the face."

"True. I was only stunned, however. My aura absorbed the majority of the blast."

Lark sighed. "If you say you're good, I believe you. Just be careful, alright?"

"That is my intention."

Gray, who was a few paces ahead of the others, suddenly stopped.

"Uh, guys? I think that's smoke."

"That's coming from Schnee Manor."

"But Atlas hasn't been hitting civilian targets."

Cardin tightened his grip on his mace. "Well, looks like they are now. Lark, you take lookout, but stay hidden. Everyone else, close formation, and eyes sharp."

Lark darted forward, his form subtly shifting colors until he was indistinguishable from the surrounding buildings. The other four waited, Jaune glancing around nervously while the others readied their weapons.

"Hey! Cardin!" Lark was waving franticly from a short way down the street.

"Keep down, idiot!" Cardin hissed.

Lark ducked his head and ran back to the others. "There's fighting all over the Schnee grounds. It looks like Schnee and the smith are with an Atlas commander."

"Rose and Schnee? Are they fighting with Atlas?"

"Yeah, but they're fighting the White Fang."

"Great…"

"Should we help them?"

Cardin glanced at Jaune and sighed. "Fine. We clear out the animals. But if Atlas tries to take advantage, you hit them where it hurts."

"Where would that be, exactly? They're all robots."

"Just get out there and fight anything that tries to kill you."

"Got it."

"Lark, you give us ranged support. The rest of us will hit 'em head-on. If we do get into trouble with Atlas, take out the commander. They'll be the biggest threat."

His team nodded. "All right. Lark, get in position. We'll move on your mark."

Lark leapt forward onto a nearby building, wedging his halberd into the wall, then firing, launching himself into the air. He repeated the action until he reached the top.

Cardin burst from his cover and charged into the battle, his form growing larger as he approached the White Fang. Hearing his cry, the Faunus turned to see Cardin's enlarged form looming over them, his already massive mace now heavier than any one of them. Grinning, Cardin brought it down again, the explosion scattering the group of Faunus.

Behind him, Jaune had scrambled over the debris, his shield raised as he ran forward, deflecting the bullets of the White Fang who had recovered from Cardin's appearance. Behind him, Gray and Dove followed, keeping behind his shield and occasionally firing at the soldiers, while Lark fired over them from the roof.

By now, the hunters had been noticed by the White Fang's commander, who shouted at his personal guard. The large man beside him turned away from Schnee and her allies to meet Cardin head-on, while Torchwick began alternating his shots at the Atlesians with shots at Jaune.

Hashimoto quickly pushed his way to the front lines and leapt at Cardin, his chainsaw raised above his head. Cardin met the saw's blade with his mace's head, activating the dust crystal inside and blasting the saw back and out of the Faunus's hands. Hashimoto stumbled back as Cardin advanced on him, raising his mace to strike again. Hashimoto rolled backwards, grabbing his saw and raising it just in time to block Cardin's swing.

Roman fired again at Jaune, who deflected the blast with his shield and continued advancing forward. Behind him, Dove and Gray were ducked behind his shield, Gray launching blasts of dust at the White Fang while Dove dispatched any that got too close.

A strong force smashed into Jaune's side, sending him flying several feet away. He caught a glimpse of the White Fang commander as he attempted to scramble to his feet. Moments later, another shot from Roman's cane hit the ground next to him, sending him back again. Several more shots landed, barely grazing his aura, but effectively separating him from his teammates.

Adam charged again, this time at Gray. The blade whipped forward, leaving a gash in Gray's side. Dove quickly leapt forward to defend his teammate, firing several shots at Adam and forcing him away from Gray. The two stood facing each other, each unwilling to make the first move. Before either of them could, however, several shots pinged off of Adam's aura. Dove surged forward, taking advantage of the distraction, and causing Adam to barely stumble out of the way, only to be met with a blast of rocks from Gray's sword.

Jaune finally managed to steady himself as the barrage of shots stopped abruptly. He looked up to see the Atlesian commander, blades spinning around her as she ran at Torchwick, Ruby at her side. He returned his attention to his teammates as Adam stumbled toward him, turning to run. Adam managed to barely deflect the blow, but Jaune's blade still made a small cut across the Faunus's face.

Gray stumbled forward next to Jaune, launching a plume of flame after the Faunus.

"You two stay back! I'm going to help Cardin."

Dove nodded, moving to support Gray. "I will tend to him. Go."

Jaune charged over to where Cardin was still fighting Hashimoto. Several other White Fang had joined the fight, getting in under Cardin's reach and forcing him to fight defensively. Jaune ran headlong into one of them, bashing the faunus aside with his shield and striking at another. The White Fang were forced back as Jaune moved to Cardin's side, raising his shield defensively as the Captain resumed his assault, driving away the last of the Faunus.

Cardin nodded briefly at Jaune in acknowledgement before turning back to Hashimoto, swinging his mace at the faunus's head. As Hashimoto stumbled back to stand even with Adam and Torchwick, Torchwick stepped up to address the hunters, clapping his hands together. "Alright. You've all been wonderful hosts, but I think it's time for us to leave."

"Like hell you're leaving."

"Well, if hell's what you insist on…" Torchwick smiled broadly and spread his arms. Five bullheads rose from the skyline, speeding toward the battle. "Hell is what you get!"

Jaune ducked as those around him fired up at the oncoming ships. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Atlesian general fire a huge beam of light at them, slicing one of the ships in half. Jaune raised his shield as the bullheads began returning fire, protecting himself and Cardin from the storm of bullets while Dove and Gray scrambled for cover. Two of the ships landed a short distance away, loading on the remaining White Fang, as well as Torchwick. As the ships lifted off, one of the circling ships' engines was suddenly encased in ice, causing the ship to spiral down, crashing to the ground. Cardin was immediately upon it, smashing in the cockpit with his mace. The three remaining ships took to the sky again, and, dodging away from another of the general's beams, flew off over the city.

The hunters stood, watching the spot where the bullheads had disappeared over the skyline. After a moment, Cardin swore loudly, smashing his mace into the ground at his feet.

"We should have had them."

"Hey, we drove them off and they didn't do too much damage, right?"

Cardin whirled to face Jaune, stepping closer and looming over him. "We should have had them! They had their back against the wall! How the hell did they even get air support in here? VCFY should have seen that! Some damn team should have seen that! And now, they're off and we're never going to find out where the-"

"Excuse me."

Cardin turned to see the Atlesian general addressing him, her hands held politely behind her back. At her shoulder was a dark-skinned woman in a blue beret.

"I am General Polendina. On behalf of the City of Atlas, I wish to offer the city of Vale a cease-fire."

The hunter regarded her for a moment before glancing back at the bullhead she had cut in half. "Captain Cardin Winchester," he said, turning back to her. "And on behalf of the City of Vale, I accept."

Jaune glanced at Gray, who had walked over to him, supported by Dove.

"So… uh… did we win?"

His teammate looked over at the still-smoldering Schnee Manor. "Let's call it a draw."

"Yeah." A large chunk fell off of the manor's roof, landing with a thud next to the foundation. "A draw sounds good."

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Returning to the interior of her manor, Weiss left General Polendina and Captain Winchester in charge of security on the grounds. Between them they seemed… reasonably competent, at least. She now sat in her sitting room, listening to an adjutant list off the damages to her home. She sighed internally as she counted up the damage done; she doubted insurance would cover this. After several minutes, the adjutant finally seemed to be done. Weiss looked up, her expression neutral.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, though the full assessment is still underway." Of course it was.

"Very well." Weiss stood and strode through the door. The adjutant quickly followed.

"Where are you going, Ma'am?"

"The infirmary. You didn't list it in the damage report, correct?"

"I was only listing the extent of known damage. The infirmary wasn't undamaged."

"What do you mean?"

"While most of the attack was focused elsewhere, there was word of a small force that came through there."

"What happened?"

"We're not sure, Miss Schnee. There were three officers there at the time, but we lost contact with them."

"Then we should go see what happened, shouldn't we?"

"Of course, Miss Schnee."

The man didn't interrupt her as she made her way to the back of the manor down several hallways to a moderately-sized antechamber. There were obvious signs of battle here; the walls were strewn with bullet holes, a portion of the ceiling had collapsed, and three White Fang soldiers were dead on the floor. Weiss stepped carefully over a fallen beam in front of the infirmary door, which was hanging off its hinges.

"Hold it there!"

A man in an SDC uniform stepped through the doorway, a pistol drawn and pointed at Weiss. As soon as he saw who he was threatening, he quickly holstered his pistol. "My apologies, ma'am. The radio's down, so we didn't know who might be coming."

Weiss held up a hand to silence him. "I am aware. The White Fang have withdrawn. What happened here?"

"We were in here when the White Fang came through. There were about a dozen of them. It was just me and two other officers inside. We barred the door, but it was only a matter of time before they broke through. We set up the beds as barricades and waited."

"And the patient?"

"We had her back with the doctors, behind a barricade. She wasn't happy about it, though. So, the door burst open, and we fired. Almost immediately, though, the beds started lifting up, and everything just threw itself through the door. We turned around and she was collapsed against the wall, white as a sheet, with the doctors holding her up. I don't think she got all of them, but the rest ran. Never seen anything like that before."

"Is she alright?"

"The doctors say so. I think she strained herself a bit, but she's in one piece.

"I need to see her."

"Of course!" The officer stood to the side. "We salvaged one of the beds. She's resting, but awake."

Weiss pushed past him into the room, ignoring all the occupants and moving straight for the single remaining bed. Seeing her coming the doctor beside it moved out of the way, allowing her to see the bed's occupant.

At the sight of her open eyes, Weiss sank slowly into the chair next to the bed.

"Pyrrha."

The woman in the bed smiled at her weakly. "Hello, Weiss."

"You were supposed to be resting."

"Sorry." She didn't sound sorry. Weiss examined her. Though she was no doctor, she could see that Pyrrha was, indeed, a little pale.

"I burst the stitches," Pyrrha explained, noticing Weiss's concern. "It shouldn't be too bad, though. Just a couple more days."

"Just? You were recovering, Pyrrha. Who knows what kind of complications-"

Pyrrha placed a finger on Weiss's lips, stunning her into silence. "I'll be fine, Weiss." She removed the finger and shifted uncomfortably. "The doctors here are amazing, right? And I really just need rest."

"Regardless. I don't want you out of this bed until both the doctor and I have told you you're good, alright?"

Pyrrha laughed. "Alright, Weiss. But that means you have to come back safe. I'd rather not spend the rest of my life in this bed."

"What do you mean?"

"You're going after them, aren't you? The White Fang."

Weiss avoided Pyrrha's gaze.

"I know you, Weiss. You won't let something like this go unanswered. Just be careful. We haven't heard from Ren and Nora yet, so you don't know what you're dealing with. And I won't be there to help you."

"I'll have allies. The hunters. And it seems Atlas may be joining us as well."

"Good. But still, promise me you'll be careful, alright?"

"I will as soon as you promise me the same thing."

"I'm your bodyguard. I'm always careful."

Weiss sighed, and the pair lapsed into silence, Pyrrha resting contentedly while Weiss considered, not looking directly at her.

"Still, I'm glad no one else was hurt. And the equipment can be replaced."

"That is true."

Weiss slipped her hand onto the bed and clasped Pyrrha's hand.

"I'm proud of you."

Pyrrha smiled and squeezed her hand. "I'm proud of you, too."

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 **A** **/N:** Many thanks to the wonderfully literate Menolith for betaing my horribly garbled word-spew.


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